Paulo Costa urges Brazilians to leave after Lula's win, offers help with US papers

Paulo Costa urged Brazilians to leave the country hours after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Sunday's presidential runoff. On X, he also offered to help people get papers to move to the United States, where he says he now lives. He wrote in Portuguese; the English lines below are Sherdog's translation.

"Not being part of this madness is a relief, airport is the way out friends," Costa wrote. He told followers to "enjoy it while you can still leave," warning that "in 4 years the situation will become VERY difficult."

"Whoever wants, I can help get the documentation for the USA, where I live."

He called the move to America "the best thing I ever did, THANKS TO GOD!" When an X user criticised him, he answered that his suitcases were at "my other house in Las Vegas." He said the critic was the one "doomed to the Brazil of the PT for another 4 years," PT being Lula's Workers' Party. "I don't have anything to do with this country anymore," he added.

Sherdog's story, also carried by Yahoo Sports, was the only coverage of the posts we found. The posts were still up when Sherdog published.

The election

Lula took more than 64 million votes on Sunday, October 25, to just under 60 million for Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, AP reported. It will be his fourth term, though not in a row, due to start January 5, 2027.

Bolsonaro hasn't conceded. He said Sunday he would seek to annul the result, but CNN Brasil reported Monday, citing unnamed campaign members, that he has dropped that plan, according to ND+. His team will challenge Lula's win on abuse-of-power grounds instead. Bolsonaro hasn't confirmed the change himself.

The UFC standoff

Costa has one fight left on his UFC deal and says its purse covers three rounds, not five. On September 20 he put three options to UFC executive Hunter Campbell on X. They were a three-round fight with any light heavyweight, a five-round fight within six weeks for more money, or: "Release me from my contract now. Simple and clean."

Costa says the UFC refused to let him go and told him to finish the contract, according to LowKick MMA. Dana White tells it differently. "He's been offered fights and turned them down," White said after Week 7 of Dana White's Contender Series, Sherdog reported on September 23. Neither side has named the opponents offered.

On October 12, Costa wrote "Nothing from the UFC" and said he would "fight at an event at the end of the year," per Sherdog. He didn't name a promotion. Nothing has moved since: no fight is booked and no release has been announced.

Where he stands

Costa is 16-4, and 8-4 in the UFC, according to Wikipedia. The UFC's rankings list him sixth at light heavyweight. His last fight was his 205-pound debut at UFC 327 on April 11. He knocked out the unbeaten Azamat Murzakanov with a third-round head kick in the co-main event.

He closed a +205 underdog that night, about a 31% chance by the market, our numbers show. Across his five UFC fights with closing odds since 2021, he has won two, roughly what the prices expected. One unit on him each time would be down 0.67 units. That is a record of past closing prices, not a bet anyone can place now.

Carlos Ulberg won the title on the same card but tore his ACL, and he is targeting early 2027, LowKick MMA reported in July. No interim belt had been booked then. Ulberg suggested Khalil Rountree Jr. against Costa as a "wildcard" fight in the meantime.